This invention relates to a goal structure for a game such as hockey which comprises a pair of goal posts interconnected by a cross bar at the upper end in which the posts are normally attached rigidly to the playing surface.
Many sports which use a goal structure of this type and particularly ice hockey, are high velocity, high energy games in which collisions and impacts are an important part of the game and hence unavoidable. Collisions with other players do not generally cause serious injury since the player is fairly flexible and therefore in the collision both players tend to deform to some extent thus avoiding the sort of injury that occurs in contact with a rigid object.
Collisions with the boards surrounding the playing surface can be more damaging since these are rigid, but they have no projections and thus serious injuries are very uncommon.
However, the goal posts and goal structure are generally rigid and include projections or narrow structures which can cause serious injury. This is overcome in hockey played by younger children by merely placing the rigid goal frame and net loosely on the playing surface so that whenever it is contacted by a player it simply moves away from the original location and no damage is caused.
However, this becomes unsatisfactory as the players become older and more skilled since the net can be very easily move away from its location even when not impacted and thus the game has to come to a halt.
Attempts have been made to overcome this problem. In one attempt disclosed in European Application No. 123564 (Meggs) which is currently used in a number of countries and in Olympic competition is the use of magnetic plates at the ice surface which provide a vertical force on a pin on the post drawing it into a recess in the ice. This gives holding force for the goal posts but of course once the magnetic force is overcome they break away under impact. The disadvantage of this system is that it is very expensive in view of its complexity and in addition it is difficult to balance the amount of retaining force to prevent injury and yet avoid the nets breaking away during normal play and particularly at a time of frenetic activity around the net when goals are likely.
Furthermore the restraining force provided by this device is at a maximum before any displacement of the post occurs and then drops to zero once displacement has taken place. Thus the post is rigid and stationary without any deflection or displacement at the time of impact when injury is most likely.
Various other proposals have been made in patents for sprung arrangements which allow the goal posts to flex and, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,449,708 and 2,525,304 (both to Lindsay) and Canadian Pat. No. 996,594 (Dietrich) show relevant attempts. However, the proposals in these patents have not been taken up at all since they clearly vary the shape and structure of the goal when its shape and structure is an important part of the game which cannot be changed without altering the characteristics of the game.